What is the Control Panel?

Basically, the web hosting control panel is the graphical interface of web hosting account.

Every single action and activity that is undertaken on a website is maintained through the Control Panel. These actions can include anything ranging from creating FTP accounts, operating the email server for the client or compiling statistical data.

Popular Web hosting Control Panel are:

cPanel

Plesk

vDesk

Custom

Every website online is hosted on a leased web server that is included with a web hosting plan. Also included with a web hosting plan is a control panel, which is basically the user-friendly interface used by the end user when managing their websites and web server. Since each control panel carries its own benefits for different types of webmasters, and the majority of hosting plans have preinstalled control panels, it is important to consider this aspect when choosing a web hosting provider.

Control panels are specifically designed to facilitate administrative functions such as:

Database creation and management

e-mail account creation and management

FTP account and client management

Subdomain creation

Domain forwarding

Creating server backups and much more.

Although nearly all control panels include these basic features, there is a significant difference in the way the user interface looks and functions. The following are several factors to consider when choosing a web hosting plan based on the control panel.

Web Hosting Experience

The most commonly used control panels on the market are (in order from most to least popular):

cPanel,

Plesk,

Vdeck

While each of these control panels have very unique interfaces and overall functionality capabilities, they are all capable of accommodating the requirements of nearly any user.

However, some control panels provide additional functionality and therefore have user interfaces that are more difficult to navigate (because they contain more options and modules). Perhaps the easiest control panel to use (which most novice webmasters begin their online endeavors with) is cPanel, so it is not surprising that it is also the most popular. Thus, while inexperienced webmasters may opt for a hosting plan that includes a preinstalled those with more experience that would like to expand their current capabilities may want to consider a more corporate solution like Plesk.

Learning Curve and Demo Modes

Every control panel comes with a bit of a learning curve, which is basically the amount of effort and time that you will need to put forth in order to learn to use it effectively. Fortunately, some control panels (such as cPanel) will allow you to use a demo mode before purchasing a web hosting plan that has this control panel installed. If you are a novice webmaster it is not advisable to use control panel that does not have a demo mode, as you could be wasting a significant amount of time trying to learn how to use the control panel unnecessarily.

cPanel

cPanel, which is the most popular Linux based control panel and serves for over ten flavours of Linux. Most of the web hosting companies also have a preference for cPanel, due to its low hosting cost. This particular software package provides several other services such as deploy applications, provision customer accounts, transfer accounts from one server to another, servers secure and many other useful services.

cpanel web hosting screenshot

Features and advantages of cPanel:

* Website statistics: The cPanel provides statistics facilities that enable a website owner to analyze the total amount of traffic. Most of the web hosting providers believe that the statistics programs consume a lot of resources on a shared environment and hence tend to eliminate this facility. Thereby it is always better to check whether the web hosting company is actually providing the web stats package.

* Managing the email process: Many website owners are keen to have the power to generate or destroy email accounts and the cPanel control panel allows this facility. There is also a facility based in Webmail which offers every client the opportunity to access their emails online. There are further facilities offered by cPanel with regards to email, one of which is the ability to instruct a forwarder to move an email account to another. There is also the ability to generate auto-responders that will provide an automated response to customers.

* Providing File Manager and FTP facilities: Having FTP access is useful to upload files and cPanel provides this service and this facility is incredibly important when trying to manage a website. There is also the provision for a website owner to use the cPanel to give other people access to newly created FTP accounts. There is still the opportunity for the website owner to dictate the access rights of other users, a power shared by them and the host firm. Using a FTP package may not be for everyone and for those uncomfortable with using this process can have access to a File Manager in cPanel to control their files. The beauty of the File Manager is that it offers users the opportunity to load up files, unzip files and manage the copying and deletion processes of the files.

Plesk

view of plesk web hosting

Plesk has turned out to be the control panel for Linux and Windows that has turned out to be the most popular. This means that the majority of companies who offer a web hosting service for Windows and Linux will provide Plesk. Many people have remarked that the Plesk interface looks similar to Windows XP and as you might expect, as it serves both platforms, it can be an expensive service.

Benefits of using Plesk:

* Having shared hosting: Plesk is able to provide an identical various-platform design that allows any user to take control of their shared hosting landscape. This facility can also be undertaken on a self-administration basis. No matter the technical level of the website owner, they will find they are able to take full control of setting up, creating and fully managing their accounts.

* The ability to have dedicated hosting: A good number of technically proficient clients would like to undertake their own dedicated hosting and Plesk and its control panel facilitates this by means of its RPM installation and its modular design. There are a whole host of tools on offer to the client and these include XML-API and other unique 3rd party applications.